Southern Arc Minerals Inc. Resumes Drill Program at West Lombok Project

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire - Oct. 11, 2011) - Southern Arc Minerals (TSX VENTURE: SA) ("Southern Arc" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the recommencement of drilling at its West Lombok exploration project. Five drill rigs have been moved onto the Waterfall target at the Mencanggah prospect and two more drill rigs are due on site shortly. Southern Arc expects to have seven rigs drilling at Mencanggah by the end of October, with additional rigs coming in November.

Dr. Mike Andrews, Southern Arc's President and Chief Operating Officer, commented: "Rock channel samples at Mencanggah have returned some fantastic results and the first two holes drilled in August showed encouraging intercepts and confirmed gold mineralization at depth. We have worked with the support of all levels of Indonesian authorities to implement our new security plan, and look forward to reporting drill results from Mencanggah as the exploration program unfolds."

Surface mapping and rock channel samples have identified 16 kilometres cumulative strike length of gold-bearing epithermal breccias at the Mencanggah prospect, with indications of near-surface and buried porphyry copper-gold mineralization. Southern Arc plans to test the epithermal breccias by drilling approximately 30 holes to an average depth of 300 metres. Follow-up drilling with the objective of completing a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate for Mencanggah will continue through the first half of 2012.


On behalf of the Board of Southern Arc Minerals Inc.

John Proust
President & CEO, Director



About Southern Arc

Southern Arc Minerals Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company with an aggressive exploration, acquisition and growth strategy. The Company's portfolio includes four exploration projects with epithermal gold and gold-copper porphyry prospects on the Lombok and Sumbawa islands in Indonesia, three of which are being advanced in partnership with major mining companies Vale and Newcrest. The Company's key exploration property is its West Lombok project, with several gold-rich copper porphyry and epithermal gold vein prospects. Southern Arc is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SA. More information is available at www.southernarcminerals.com or by emailing info@southernarcminerals.com.



Qualified Person and Quality Control and Assurance

The technical information in this release has been reviewed by Southern Arc's Chief Geologist, Andrew Rowe, B. App. Sc. Geology, MAusIMM. Mr. Rowe has over 18 years of international mineral exploration experience throughout Southeast and Central Asia and Australia. During this time he has held such positions as Chief Geologist – Feasibility Studies, Senior Geologist and Consulting Geologist. Mr. Rowe has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralization under consideration and qualifies as a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

The drill program and sampling protocol is managed by Southern Arc under the supervision of Andrew Rowe. The diamond drill holes are drilled at PQ, HQ and NQ sizes depending on hole depth and core recovery to date has averaged 98.0%. Half core is cut by rock saw and is generally sampled using nominal 1-metre intervals; however, sample intervals are varied according to geological contacts and have ranged between 0.2 to 2.5 metres in length. Three quality control samples (one blank and two standards) are inserted into each batch of 40 samples. The half core samples are securely transported from the project site to the Intertek Testing Services ("ITS") sample preparation laboratory in Sumbawa Besar via private truck hired by Southern Arc. Sample pulps are then sent to the ITS Jakarta laboratory by ITS. Gold is analysed by fire assay with AAS finish and a four-acid digestion with ICP-MS finish is used to analyse a full suite of elements including silver and base metals. ITS is one of the world's largest product and commodity testing, inspection and certification organizations. The Jakarta laboratory is ISO 17025 accredited and employs a Laboratory Information Management System for sample tracking, quality control and reporting.



Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or anticipated future events and operations, timing of projects and anticipated results that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such as general economic, market and business conditions, the regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new legislation, competitive and general economic factors and conditions, the uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, the occurrence of unexpected events, and the company's capability to execute and implement future plans. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors. There is no representation by the company that actual results achieved during the forecast period will be the same in whole or in part as that forecast.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



Contact Information

Southern Arc Minerals Inc.
Rhylin Bailie
Vice President, Communications & Investor Relations
604-676-5241
604-676-5246 (FAX)
info@southernarcminerals.com
www.southernarcminerals.com